Life in my kitchen

Oh eff. This is what I said, out loud even, having just come home from the gym where I tend to work up an appetite voracious enough to make steamed cabbage taste divine, and clicked on Gwendolyn’s blog and these babies popped up and practically licked me in the face. Or it may have been me licking the computer – I can’t remember. I mean – look at them. Love at first sight? I believe.

The baker in me was intrigued by the use of cornstarch in this particular dough. Not much – only 2 tsp. to 2 cups of flour. Would it really make a difference? Or is it gimmicky? Designed to lure in people like me who are hungry and haven’t eaten a freshly baked chocolate chunk cookie in far too long?

So I made them – for research purposes only. Besides, I’ll be seeing Anna Olson – Gwendolyn’s cookie muse – at Christmas in November at the Jasper Park Lodge in a month – I could use this as a conversation piece. You know, something to chit chat about.

There’s a half pound of chopped chocolate in these. (That sounds way better than 8 oz or 2 cups, don’t you think?) Go semisweet or as dark as you like. I do like chopped chocolate in a cookie rather than chips – you get that spread of teeny bits to enormous chunks, which works in these. They really are All That, and interestingly enough the cornstarch – perhaps paired with the low sugar-flour ratio – produces a cookie very different from those I generally fall back on. They have that thick denseness reminiscent of the ones I used to get at Cookies by George when we took the bus downtown after school. They aren’t cakey, but they aren’t as chewy as most. But yet they are chewy. At any rate, they’re totally fab. Even Ben looked up from the table and said, all contemplative and serious (particularly for an 8 year old), “wow, these are really good chocolate chip cookies.”

I sprinkled a few with a bit of crunchy salt for salted dark chocolate cookies. I know, the whole salted caramel/chocolate combo is so last year. Who cares? It’s also so delicious.

These are totally ridiculously easy to make. You don’t need to age the dough, or chill it, or do anything but nibble at it as you stir, then scoop (I really do love my levered scoop – ask Santa for one) and bake. Never before has superherosim been so easy.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars until pale and almost fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla.

Add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt and stir or beat on low until almost combined; add the chocolate chunks and stir just until blended.

Drop dough by the spoonful onto a parchment-lined (or buttered) sheet and bake for 10-14 minutes (depending on their size) until golden around the edges but still soft in the middle. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Makes about 1 1/2 dozen large cookies.

45 Responses to “Half a Pound of Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies”

+1 on getting a cookie scoop. It has made cookie baking even easier — perhaps dangerously so. Also, after the success of this, I’m sort of curious to try corn starch in some of my other cookie recipes.

Wow…can’t wait to make these cookies!! I made your browned butter blueberry muffins recently and doubled the recipe. I only ended up with twelve regular sized muffins and about 9 mini muffins. I thought I would end up with at least 24 mini muffins. What do you think happened?

I made these when I saw the recipe on her website. I only had bittersweet chips, and halfway through making these with my toddler we ran out of all-purpose flour and scrounged up some cake flour. They still turned out divine, and four days later (can you believe my restraint?!) they’re still nice and chewy. Great cookie.

My wife just made these (@mindthecompany on twitter) and they are soooo wonderful. She used extra dark 85% cocoa chocolate bar, cut up, and they turned out like a gourmet coffee shop style cookie. We’re thinking semi-sweet next time, but still with less sugar. Thanks for this recipe! I think it’s going to remain a favourite!

What’s the deal with the levered scoop? Why haven’t I twigged to this before? Available at any kitchen store? I only ask all these questions to delay rummaging in the kitchen to see if I have al the ingredients to make these. They look amazing.

I went home last night and made these cookies! DELISH! My girls asked me to substitute half of the dark choc with milk chocolate so I obliged and they were excellent. Thanks for another great recipe, Julie!

Any particular brand recommendation for a levered scoop? I have always wanted one, but have been told a few times that they don’t work very well. Also, what size would be best for cookies, muffins, etc.?

@Jenn Pampered Chef. I don’t sell it but I do get invited to the occasional party(Hi Deborah! hehe). I own their scoops, can opener and veggie peeler and they’re all used pretty much daily and still look new.

@ Jenn, I too have Pampered Chef and use them all the time. The one I used for these cookies is marked 40 on the inside lever, not sure if this is a universal size measurement(perhaps someone else out there can comment) and measures about a tablespoon. I have a smaller one as well, marked 60. Had them for 10 yrs + and still looking great! Worth the expense for quality.
Julie, made these this aft and it is all I can do to restrain myself from eating them all now.

I found this recipe awhile ago and said that I couldn’t wait to try it, but I never came back to give a review! Here I am making a batch a few months later so I thought while I was here that I’d say I absolutely LOVE these cookies! they’re amazing! Best cookies recipe ever except my moms peabutbutter delights Thank you so dearly!

My little sister and I made some of this just a while ago. It was…PERFECTION! I will never be happy with any other chocolate chip cookie either store bought or homemade. This recipe from now on is the only one we will ever recognize or follow when making chocolate chip cookies. The only thing left to do now is to decide how we can divide these cookies between ourselves without having to fight to the death!

Having one now with a glass of milk. Yum! Had to leave them in for a bit longer, but that’s probably one of the peculiarities of my oven. Mine came out perfect – looked even better than shop bought cookies, and were very tasty.

[…] dark chocolate chunk cookies on Saturday and Sunday. I’ve taken to making Anna Olson’s half pound of dark chocolate chunk cookies, swapping oat flour for 1/2 cup of the all-purpose flour. This makes them a little more tender […]

[…] think chocolate was my preferred dessert category. (And I’m still fully in love with a good chocolate chunk cookie or brownie or squidgy chocolate cake.) But there really are few better things in this world than a […]

I love this recipe! I was craving the milk chocolate chunk cookies I used to get at cookies by George and found this recipe last night. Well, I made it first thing this morning (before work!!! What a pregnant lady wouldn’t do to satisfy a craving right?) and they came out perfectly. I did replace the dark chocolate with milk chocolate though thanks for sharing!